Waiting for the Weekend

The Atlantic ^ | August 1991 | WITOLD RYBCZYNSKI

[SamAdams76]

The word "weekend" started life as "week-end" but lost its hyphen somewhere along the way, ceasing to be merely the end of the week and acquiring, instead, an autonomous and sovereign existence. "Have a good weekend," we say to one another—never "Have a good week." Where once the week consisted of weekdays and Sunday, it now consists of weekdays and weekend. Ask most people to name the first day of the week and they will answer, Monday, of course; fifty years ago the answer would have been Sunday. Wall calendars still show Sunday as the first day of the week, and children are taught the days of the week starting with Sunday, but how long will these conventions last? Sunday, once the day of rest, has become merely one of two days of what is often strenuous activity. Although we continue to celebrate the traditional religious and civic holidays—holy days—these now account for only a small portion of our total nonworking days, and are overshadowed by the 104 days of secular weekends.

[SamAdams76]

I hate that I have to excerpt this but good article on how "leisure" time has become more and more like "work."

I'm an avid hiker but have never gone for all the high-priced gear that goes with it these days. Just give me a pair of good boots and I'm good for a day-long hike just about anywhere. Don't need to strap on a backpack, lug a canteen, carry granola bars and flashlights, etc.

Used to be that people would just plunge into the woods and get lost for a few hours. Didn't need all that paraphernalia. I'm one of those people.

Same thing for a day at the beach. Just give me a good book to read, a cooler of drinks, maybe a folding chair and that's it. I see families coming to the beach with so much gear they are making multiple trips to the car and back.

[BillT]

For a business owner the best part of Friday is that there are only two more days of work in the work week!

[Graybeard58]

I’m retired, every day is a weekend day.

[HotHunt]

My wife and I are retired and live on a farm raising beef cattle. Everyday is like any other day. After a while they all run together and I sometimes forget what day of the week it is. Might have something to do with the cows and chores not recognizing weekdays versus weekends.

They say the only thing wrong with retirement is that you never get a day off.

[Graybeard58]

I was going for humor by implying that I have no schedule to keep. I’ve been retired for 15 years but my life got a lot busier a few years back, after this happened, (with pictures):

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2886877/posts

[HotHunt]

Congratulations.